People & Places

Best Cop St. Louis 2005 - Sanela Konjevic

As a 26-year-old and a female, Sanela Konjevic is already something of a rarity in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Factor in her distinction as the squad's lone Bosnian? Unique indeed. Konjevic came to St. Louis from Prijedor in the former Yugoslavia in 1996, attended Soldan High School and studied criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Since 2002 she's been keeping it real on some of the toughest south-city streets, cruising the turf of gangs including 36 Minne. At last Konjevic is about to become a trendsetter: Two fellow Bosnians have finally climbed the police-academy ranks to patrolman status. "I love being a cop," says Konjevic, ever a straight shooter. "Since I was a kid, I never wanted to do anything else."